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1994 Defender 90
Repairs and Upgrades
This 1994 Defender 90 has come to us from the mid-west. It has seen a good deal of service in its past decade plus of service and now it is time to get some repairs done, and make some things better in the process.
One of the biggest problems with the 1994 D90 was the top system. Known as the "Tickford" top this top system utilized troublesome snaps and poor fabric quality. They are prone to leaking and never really did fit that well. The good news is that we can ditch this Tickford top and upgrade the entire top system on this 90 to the latest upgraded top that will seal around the doors and offer a tight and much less leaky roof for this 90.
Here you can see the new upgraded top being installed. The door seal kit has been installed and this gives the door a strong structure, with a full perimeter seal for the door to seal against (green arrows). This helps keep the wind and rain out of the inside of the Rover and is just one of the many benefits to an upgraded top. If it were up to us, all NAS D90 soft tops would be fitted with these tops instead of what the factory supplied.
This image shows the completed top installed and looking great. Not only does this set up look great, it will last longer and work better.
Those things are what we strive for there at ECR, not just repairs, but things to make your Defender better.
One of the systems in this 90 that needs to be made better is the brakes. The rear brakes are so bad that they barely will let the 90 roll. You can see in the image above that the rotors and calipers on this 90 are completely shot.
The brake pipes are also so rusted that they are about to burst. Needless to say none of this stuff is going to come apart and be able to be re-used. As soon as we put a wrench on this stuff it is going to break, so that means the 90 will be getting all new brake parts so that the system will work and be safe.
Want to see some scary rust in a D90? Here you go. This is a picture of the fuel tank skid plate, the side that goes against the tank. It is a good thing that the D90 fuel tank is plastic. If it was steel it would be leaking badly by now. Want to know what is worse? This skid plate and cross bar are the only things that hold the fuel tank in place in a 90 (other than the fuel hoses) and we didn't even have to unbolt this plate from the car to remove it. It was so rusted we just grabbed the front edge and pulled. This customer is lucky the fuel tank didn't fall out on the highway!
The good news is that after a lot of rust removal and good bit of drilling and re-tapping the frame we have been able to install an ECR ROX alloy fuel tank skid plate in place of the old rust. For more details on our fuel tank skid plates go here.
Once the new rotors and seals are installed we will be installing these new calipers and new pads all around in order to get the brake system up to snuff.
The door hinges on this 90 also need some help. In order to combat the rust and make them work properly again, without future rust this time, we have primed and painted a set of upgraded door hinges in the correct color for a perfect match. For more information on hinge upgrades go here.
Installation of the hinges is quite simple and with the doors off we can adjust the doors to work and close easier. A problematic door latch is a common problem on incorrectly serviced Defenders.
Once the doors have been reinstalled with the new hinges and all stainless steel hardware the repair is complete and will keep the hinge area of his 90 looking good for a long time to come.
The spare tire carrier is another area where rust takes hold quickly. Here you can see that we have removed the entire tire carrier assembly in order to get it ready for restoration. Each piece is media blasted back to white metal and then primed with 3 coats of epoxy primer and 3 coats of black paint for a correct look and a proper long lasting repair.
This image shows the restored tire carrier back in place on the Defender and looking great. Here again we use all stainless steel hardware to put the tire carrier parts back onto the truck so that it will look good long term.
Here you can see the completed truck ready to head back to Illinois. This 90 has had a ton of service and repairs in order to get it back into shape and we also completed a number of upgrades to make it work better and last longer. This Defender 90 might not be the most glamorous project we have done, but it shows how ECR can help you with your Defender no matter if your needs are wild or mild.
If you need expert service or repairs done to your Defender contact ECR... we'll be glad to help.
ECR